Easter Weekend is a Slam Dunk for Broadway

Posted on April 04, 2018

Easter proved to be a fruitful week on Broadway, with an upsurge across major shows, added performances, and two new shows entering previews.

Box Office Rises By Over $7 Million

In the week ending Sunday, April 1, 2018, which also happened to be Easter Sunday, Broadway was on a roll. Over the course of the 35 shows currently running, the overall box office gross was $42,016,689, which is an astounding increase of $7,325,450 from the week before. To take advantage of the increased tourist crowds due to the spring holiday, three of the biggest earners added a ninth performance: The Lion King, Wicked, and Aladdin. As such, The Lion King went up by $1,020,633 to reach a weekly gross of $3,092,152, which represents 107.4% of its gross potential. Wicked went up by $907,401 to reach a weekly gross of $2,723,040, which represents 136.0% of its gross potential. Aladdin went up by $665,363 to reach a weekly gross of $2,110,432, which represents 98.2% of its gross potential. Furthermore, though it played just a full week of eight performances, which was the same as the week before, Frozen went up by $804,202 to reach a weekly gross of $2,246,998, or 100.9% of its gross potential, cashing in on a holiday week and cementing its status as a commercial hit. Other top performers included this year’s Tony Award winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, which went up by $73,463 to reach a weekly gross of $1,744,352, or 122.4% of its gross potential, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two, which earned a weekly gross of $1,589,033, or 114.3% of its gross potential, and Hamilton, which, although it decreased by $200,515 to reach a weekly gross of $2,882,014, it still brought in 109.6% of its gross potential. Furthermore, long-running favorite The Phantom of the Opera capitalized off of the tourist rush to bring in 118.3% of its gross potential, with a weekly gross of $1,605,070.

Two New Shows: “Summer” and “Travesties”

This past week, two new shows began previews as well. Summer: The Donna Summer Musical began previews on March 28, 2018, playing 4 shows in its first week. Over the course of these four shows, the Donna Summer jukebox tuner brought in a weekly gross of $568,993, which represents 77.4% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $197, the average paid admission was $106.20, and the audience was filled up to 91.1% of its capacity on average. This is not bad for the first week of previews in a highly competitive season. While Donna Summer certainly has a built-in fanbase, it’s hard to imagine that it rivals that of Harry Potter or Frozen, both hitting the scene, Harry Potter with an entirely new conceived idea, and Frozen with an entirely original score, rather than a re-appropriated list of musical tracks from a starlet of a bygone era. Meanwhile, Travesties began previews on March 29, 2018, also playing four shows in its first partial week. Over the course of these four shows, the weekly gross was $151,212, which represents 46.2% of its gross potential. With a top ticket price of $147, the average paid admission was $61.27, and the audience was filled up to 85.2% of its capacity on average. This demonstrates a high amount of discounting for this Roundabout Theatre Company revival of a Tom Stoppard play, in a production transferred from London and originally produced by the Menier Chocolate Factory. The cast includes Tom Hollander, Peter McDonald, Seth Numrich, Opal Alladin, Dan Butler, Patrick Kerr, Scarlett Strallen, and Sara Topham.